Nov. 3, 2001
Marquette, Mich. – Bryce Cockburn scored two second period goals to snap a 1-1 tie to lead the 10th-ranked Northern Michigan Wildcats to a 4-1 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday night at a sold-out Berry Events Center.
The loss gives Notre Dame a weekend split after winning Friday’s game 5-4. The Irish closed out their six-game road swing with a 1-3-2 mark and are now 1-5-2 on the season, 1-2-1 in CCHA play. Northern Michigan improves to 4-1-1 overall and in league play.
The two teams played an even first period with Northern Michigan taking advantage of a Notre Dame penalty to take a 1-0 lead at 4:21. With defenseman Joe Zurenko off for crosschecking, Alan Swanson beat Irish goaltender Morgan Cey from high in the slot using a Notre Dame defenseman as a screen. Chris Gobert and Terry Harrison assisted on the goal.
Strong forechecking by Notre Dame’s Michael Chin led to the tying goal. Chin stripped a Northern Michigan forward of the puck along the right wing boards and carried the puck deep into the right wing corner. From there he found John Wroblewski all alone in front. The junior from Neenah, Wis. one-timed a low wrist shot from between the face-off circles beating Wildcat goaltender Craig Kowalski low to his stick side for his second goal of the year at 10:20.
Cockburn gave Northern Michigan a 3-1 lead in the second period with a pair of goals. He and linemates Chris Gobert and Chad Theuer combined at 1:31 to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead. Gobert’s strong forechecking forced a turnover behind the Irish net. Theuer found the big sniper unattended high in the slot and Cockburn drilled a shot that beat Cey low to stick side for his second goal of the year.
Gobert then set up Cockburn for his second goal of the night at 16:31 as he found him cutting in front of the net. Cockburn, NMU’s top returning goal scorer wasted little time and fired a wrist shot past Cey for the 3-1 advantage.
The Wildcats added their second power play goal of the game at 4:39 of the third period when Justin Kinnunen deflected a Ryan Carrigan slapshot past Cey for his first goal of the season.
Notre Dame was outshot 22-16 in the game including 11-2 in the third period. Cey made 18 saves in the game while Kowalski made 15 stops in the Wildcat net.
The Irish will look to get back on the winning track when they return home for their first CCHA-weekend series on Nov. 9-10. Notre Dame will play host to the Ferris State Bulldogs in a weekend series at the Joyce Center. Game time both nights is 7:05 p.m.
Game Summary: 1 2 3 FNotre Dame (1-4-2/1-1-1) 1 0 0 1Northeastern (3-1-1/3-1-1) 1 2 1 4
ScoringFirst Period: NMU: Alan Swanson 3 (Chris Gobert, Terry Harrison), PPG,4:21, ND: John Wroblewski 2 (Michael Chin), 10:20.ND: 8 for 24 minutes, NMU: 6 for 20 minutes.
Second Period: NMU: Bryce Cockburn 2 (Chad Theuer, Chris Gobert) , 1:31,NMU: Cockburn 3 (Gobert), 16:31.Penalties: ND: 1 for 2 minutes, NMU: 1 for 2 minutes.
Third Period: NMU: Justin Kinnunen 1 (Ryan Carrigan, Swanson), PPG, 4:39.Penalties: ND: 7 for 14 minutes, NMU: 3 for 6 minutes.
Shots On Goal:Notre Dame 6 - 8 - 2 - 16Northern Michigan 7 - 4 - 11 - 22
Goaltender Saves:ND - Morgan Cey (60:00) 6 - 2 - 10 -18NU - Craig Kowalski (60:00) 5 - 8 - 2 - 15
Power Plays:ND: 0 for 3NMU: 2 for 8
Attendance: 3,800 (sellout)